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Martial artists put on show to help cancer-stricken karate champ

MORE than £3,000 has been raised to help send karate champion Paul Coleman for cancer treatment.

Martial arts experts came together for a fundraising event last Sunday at Exeter Hall, Kidlington.

And now they’ve got the final amount raised which will go towards the 58-year-old’s treatment.

Organised by England Tae Kwon-do team coaches Russell Jones and Thomas Keeble, who are both instructors at Senshi martial arts, in Kidlington, the event was supported by senseis John Surrage and Derek Fairhurst of the Oxford School of Ju Jitsu.

Mr Jones, who gained his black belt in karate under Mr Coleman, said: “It brought martial artists from different styles and generations together for the day who may not have otherwise met and ultimately it raised a large amount of money for Mr Coleman, a man we all greatly admire and who we want to do our best to help.”

Mr Jones said the event had raised more than £3,000 and all funds would go towards the £60,000 needed to send Mr Coleman to America for Radium 223 treatment.

Mr Coleman set up the Oxford Karate Academy 40 years ago and, as well as producing 92 black belts, has travelled the world with the sport.

The father-of-three from Headington, Oxford, was diagnosed last July with prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.

Given as little as three years to live, he has been denied treatment with enzalutamide and Radium 223 on the NHS, but hopes to return to America later this year for Radium 223, a new type of internal radiotherapy used to treat cancers that have spread to the bone.

So far, fundraising by his friends and family has raised over £18,000.

He said: “This event was absoulutely phenomenal. I have never seen a gathering like this in the county – I don’t think there has been one. It was heart-warming to see so many of my friends and former pupils doing this for me.”

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